Customer Reviews

Philips MC235 Thin Stereo Microsystem

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I purchased this unit 7-7-05 and it lasted almost one month. During the time it was working it did very well. Sound quality was very good, it is easy to operate, size is very convenient, I was quite happy with the MC235. Unfortunately I now have a monophonic unit. Apparantly the right stereo channel is not working. This unit was only used for a few hours daily. Consequently I must now send the unit off for repair. I am very disappointed with this situation. It is very unlikely that I would consider any Philips product in the future.

This is one of the most disappointing purchases that I've ever made. The first day out the box the cd player started to skip, I figured maybe it was the cd, so I put in a cd that was brand and needless to say it skipped. I was so pissed. On top of that the nearly microscopic screen at the top came broken, it only displayed portions of the track numbers & time which drove me nuts. I couldn't get the AM/FM player to work at all, even after bringing it in to Circuit City and getting another one.

The look is gorgeous & its very compact which makes great for storage or lack of space, but its embarrasingly awful. I couldn't believe that Philips would put its name on such a useless product. Don't be fooled by the modern design, its a piece of crap

My cd player was terrible, the sound quality was atrocious and the speakers blew within one week. I brought it back and got another one, which was no better. My friend and me bought it on the same day to save space in our dorm rooms and he has had the same problems with it. He even wrote Philip's a letter he was so angry. I am writing this review to warn others. Please do not waste your money on this product. While it may look fantastic, the quality is anything but.

This stereo is not just small and thin to save space, but it actually sounds excellent. The CD function is great and the radio tuner is very good. The auxillary function works as well as any stereo I have ever had. I use it with my Sirius radio and it is great. Works perfect.

One slight drawback, the antenna is not very good. Not horrible, but could be better.

For the money this is an excellent buy. Well worth it.

First let me say that many will probably be happy with this machine and will not notice the flaw I am about to mention that will ultimately cause me to return this unit (purchased here at Amazon by the way...)

The thing is beautiful and classy. It is just the type of look I wanted for my desk here at work.

The problem is CD playback. I am a radio DJ, and most of the music I play are playbacks of radio programs, live concert recordings, etc.

This unit for whatever reason, puts a space between every track you listen to, without regard for whether there should be one or not.

I create many of my discs on CDR from my own radio programs. These discs are created so as not to have any space between the tracks, and they play fine everywhere else that I play them. It is an irritation that I cannot live with.

The problem is actually not only with CDRs, or even with live or 'no-space-between' recordings. It extends to commercially produced CDs. At this moment I am listening to a store bought audio CD on the unit through my professional SONY MDR-V6 headphones. The player inserts an irritating and audible cut-out between every track of this studio album.

I hope Philips considers this problem worthy of a recall, because I enjoy Philips products and this is just unacceptable.

I have already sent my opinion to them this morning...

It really could be such a nice unit.

I bought this unit to serve as a second sound system for my dining room. Compact, modern, and economical, it seemed to be a perfect solution. All worked well for 6 months, then the CD player started having play issues. The problem first began as glitches during play, slowly degrading into total shutdown. Simply put: CD players should not break in 6 months. The AM/FM radio still functions fine.

I found this unit on sale, so it's not a huge deal to get another unit. However, I find it inexcusable for a firm like Philips to produce such a shoddy CD player, given how they're trying to gain market share in the US. Phillips, you'll have to improve to your QC to regain my trust.

My wife and I bought this unit for background music in the kitchen. We've been delighted with it.

For what it's worth, I am a recording engineer and audiophile, and I review high-end speakers. This Philips shelf stereo has truly excellent sound quality for the price (when you enable its "DBB" bass-boost feature). It sounds uncolored and "open", meaning that it lacks the usual boxy, boomy or tinny sound of most small stereos. Although the bass doesn't go really deep -- you wouldn't expect that from such small speakers -- it is satisfying and is well-balanced with the midrange and treble.

I think that this well-engineered product is an amazing bargain.

This system looks very cool. It sounds great and will definitely turn heads if it's mounted on a wall or even just sitting on the shelf. The remote control is tiny and functions well. The built in preset equalizer settings are all right, and when it's not playing your CDs you can see the CD art through the player's sliding door. The backlight display is small and not too distracting if you're trying to sleep (though I'm not a light sleeper). All in all, looks and sound are above average-- especially for the price.

However, after about two weeks of functioning perfectly and looking sleek and sophisticated as ever, the mechanized front loading CD door stopped working properly and every once in a while I had to fight the player to get my CD back. The door would slide up, and then slide right back down, not giving me nearly enough time to take out my CD (or put one in if empty). This is probably more of a design fault (the vertical sliding door) than a Philips problem, but this player just didn't work for me. Needless to say, I took it back to the store.

If you're the patient type and don't mind this player keeping your CD for itself for a little while, this player sounds great and looks absolutely gorgeous.

This stereo hasn't received many good reviews, but I decided to take a chance on it anyhow. Well, it's pretty. Screw good performance, right? No? Alright. Then I'll tell you why I haven't returned it.

This is a great stereo. Maybe mine is a fluke, but I'm more inclined to think most of the bad reviews were caused by damage during shipping, or user error. I even waited four months to write this review, just to make sure nothing inexplicably went wrong.

But nothing has gone wrong, and this has now claimed the title of Best Stereo I've Ever Owned (ok, maybe that's not saying a lot).

Keep in mind, this is not a top of the line stereo. There isn't a plethora of knobs and switches to fiddle with. It does everything it's supposed to, and it does it well.

It also has some pretty groovy features (like an alarm mode, so I never again have to wake to that god-awful buzzing noise. Now I can wake to the sounds of N-Sync. Just Kidding). Like the description says, it's thin, so it doens't take up much space (and you can even mount it on your wall). The display is lighted by a very bright blue, so it's incredibly easy to see. And the CD door opens up and down, instead of out and in.

All in all, I'm very happy with it.

With is sleek design and great speakers you just have to buy this item.The speakers detatch so that you can arrange them for your suround sound needs. You can mount the player on the wall and with the funky little remote you don't have to get up to find your favourite song! Not just that but you can also listen to your favourite radio station with its AM and FM digital tuner. Becareful though. If you're placing the player system on a shelf be carful that there is plenty of clearance at the top because the cd lid slides up and if your shelf isn't big enough it wont open the whole way. Apart from that small set back I give this product five stars!Despite the small slim speakers this product produces quality sound!